Second Chances Reality: Faolan's Grand Adventure
by BlueRowley
Summary: Five-year-old Harry, as his animagus, Faolan, is accidentally carried away in a balloon basket he and his father built. Severus, as Freyr, is wounded trying to rescue him. Eventually landing on Scotland's coastline, Faolan, with help from some newfound friends, must find his way back home to his father, embarking on an adventure he'll never forget.
1. Chapter 1

Inspired by a request, Napoleon (an old movie of a dog who escapes to the outskirts of Australia in a balloon basket) and of course, Harry Potter, I give you: Faolan's Grand Adventure. This story will consist of several short parts that I will try to update weekly as long as it doesn't interfere with the other updates. I have been working on this for so long and it's nearly complete and I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Napoleon (ideas taken from the latter)

* * *

Harry watched as his father inflated the final balloon, tied it, and let it float up to join the others. It was finished. His very own balloon basket. He had seen so many hot air balloons in the sky lately that he begged his father to let him make one. Severus had finally agreed, and together, they built a basket, blew up several large balloons, and attached each one to the basket. The basket was tethered down by two ropes coiled around heavy rocks. Boulders really. Harry excitedly jumped up and down as he stared at the colorful masterpiece before him, Severus smiling down at his five-year-old.

"Can I try it?" Harry asked. "Please, please?"

Severus frowned and studied the balloon basket. "Honestly, I don't know if it'll hold your weight. Perhaps as Faolan . . . I've an idea. Go ahead, get in."

Harry squealed and clambered over the side of the woven basket, Severus lifting the boy slightly to put him in safely. Severus untied the ropes. As the man predicted, it didn't rise, even with three hundred magically filled balloons. Harry's forty-two pounds plus the weight of the basket kept the object firmly planted on the ground. However, Severus was sure Faolan's mere nine pounds would have the basket flying off and far away.

"Remember, Harry," Severus said, "you are only allowed in this basket with my supervision and aid and you are not allowed in it as Faolan, understand?"

"Yes, Daddy." Harry nodded then jumped in the basket. "Can I fly now?"

"Settle down, let me see what I can do. And do not jump around like that in the air. Honestly, what is wrong with a regular broom?"

"This looks more fun."

"Wingardium Leviosa," Severus muttered, pointing his wand at the basket. He kept a foot down on one end of a rope as the balloon basket began rising up in the sky slowly. Severus picked up the rope from under his feet as the balloon went over his head and held it firmly in is hands, turning his levitation charm to a hover charm once the balloon was a good twenty feet in the air.

"Daddy, look how high I am!" Harry said, looking down at his father, then around. "I can see the town from up here. There's the fountain in the park."

Severus smiled, but that smile faded when the wind began to pick up, pushing against the basket. Severus tightened his grip as he was forced to slide a bit on the ground from the force. He let go of the rope with one hand to pull out his wand. Slowly, he lowered the basket back down to the ground.

"Aww," Harry whined as the basket hit the ground. "I didn't want to come down yet."

"It's getting windy, son," Severus said as he tied the balloon down to the ground with the ropes, tying the thicker rope to a tree trunk. "We'll try again tomorrow. The balloons are charmed to not deflate for at least three days, so they will be fine. Remember, so not enter it without me."

"Yes, Dad. But we spent all afternoon on that." Harry's lower lip puckered out.

Severus sighed after he finished staking the basket to the ground, ruffling his son's hair. "How about we play as Freyr and Faolan, huh? We'll that make it all better?"

"I guess," Harry sighed.

Severus smirked before shifting down into his tiger animagus, Freyr, a large Siberian tiger. He chuffed as he gently knocked his son to the ground, Harry screaming then laughing. The boy shifted into his tiger form, a small tiger cub, roughly the size of a large house cat. The little ferocious cub snarled at his father, then charged the big cat. Freyr allowed himself to be wrestled to the ground by his son's overly large paws, the cub's baby teeth like needles piercing his ear.

The two wrestled for a while before the hot sun wore them out. Freyr yawned and stretched out on the porch, happy to take a brief nap, glad when Faolan curled up next to him. He wouldn't sleep too deeply, Freyr thought, just enough to rest his muscles . . .

Soon, Freyr was deep in his nap, purring in his rest. Faolan had moved down a step away from the larger tiger, lying down and waiting to see if Freyr would notice the lack of warmth against the cat's side. Freyr didn't even open an eye.

Faolan huffed. He just wasn't in the mood for a nap. He wanted to play. He wanted an adventure.

And the basket was looking very temping.

Faolan looked up at his father, at the basket, then again at his father. What would happen if he climbed in? The basket was tied to a tree, it wasn't going anywhere.

"I'll just take a look," Faolan decided aloud, "besides, the basket is tied down."

Faolan leaped off the stair and trotted over to the basket, sniffing for an easy way in. His father had lifted him into it when he had been human, but that wouldn't work now. He would need a more innovative way to enter the basket now.

"I could climb it . . ." Faolan tilted his head at the vertical structure. It was a long way up at his current height. And he wasn't sure he had his climbing skills down to a science, not with these over-sized paws. Maybe there was another way.

Faolan sniffed around, then spotted the tight rope tied to the tree trunk. The rope was tied to the side of the basket, a thicker weaved portion in the center. It was a short rope compared to the second rope lying in the grass attached to the bottom of the basket, the one Severus held on to while Harry was flying in the basket. Faolan smiled. The rope was his answer, all he had to do was balance his way to the basket, then leap up and over.

Faolan, carefully tested the sturdiness of the rope tied to the tree. He hoped on, wobbling on the rope, the wind throwing him off a bit. He crouched on the rope until he found his balance, his tail flicking. Once he was steady, he inched his way forward, his sharp claws digging into the rope for grip. His balance with these paws wasn't much better than his climbing skills.

Unbeknownst to him, his claws ripped at the thick rope, thinning it more and more as he worked his way up. Finally, he was in front of the basket. He leaped up and over the edge and tumbled to the scratchy floor. Shaking himself out, he smiled as he looked around his surroundings, realizing he couldn't even see over the top of the basket like he could as a human. His smile disappeared.

This wasn't fun. He needed to at least see over the basket. Faolan sighed as he realized he would have to practice his climbing skills after all. He backed up slightly, then ran forward and jumped, clinging to the side wall. His leap got him halfway, now to climb the rest of the way.

As Faolan climbed up, the small stakes in each corner of the basket loosened, the movement the cub caused allowed for the held down sections to wiggle free. The movement also caused the shredded rope holding the basket to the tree to rip more.

Faolan finally reached the top and walked the length of it, enjoying his new view, even if it was only of his yard.

"Wow," he purred. "Everything seems so different now that I'm Faolan. This is weird."

As Faolan circled around on the ledge of the basket, the rope shredded itself more, then snapped. Faolan fell back from the force of the basket pulling free from the stakes in the ground and soared up to the sky.

"Ahh!" Faolan cried, quickly jumping up and climbing up the side once more. Once at the top, he looked over the basket, clinging to the side still and sucked in a breath. He was flying higher and higher away from Snape Manor. "Dad!"

Freyr's head snapped up and the tiger's eyes widened at the sight of his son flying away in the balloon basket. He leaped off the porch and chased after the end of the long rope dragging on the ground, trying to pounce on it.

"Daddy!" Faolan mewed louder as a strong gust of wind shook him off the side again. He hit the bottom of the basket with a grunt but jumped up once more to climb up again. Looking down, he saw he was even higher up.

Below, Freyr continued to chase the rope as more of it rose. He saw a strange creature in the grass out of the corner of his eye, too late to realize it was a firethorn flicker – a rat-sized, spiky dragon that usually surrounded itself in the firethorn trees, eating the fruit and flowers the plant produced.

The dragon hissed at the tiger that nearly trampled it before stabbing Freyr with its stinger tail. Freyr let out a pained yowl and stumbled to the ground before lying motionless in the grass as the basket flew higher over the trees. Glancing up, Freyr gave a weak roar as the fuzzy image of his son in the basket drifted further away.

"Daddy!" Faolan cried, wondering what had happened to his father. And what would happen to him.

Faolan clung to the basket with all his strength as he watched his house disappear. He sniffed, a couple tears leaking from his eyes. He rested his head on the ledge, his ears flattening in fear, his amber eyes big and wide. "Dad," he whimpered, the basket floating among the clouds and gliding off with the wind, far away from Snape Manor and the small town Faolan called home.

* * *

So, I tried searching for the perfect beast to stop Freyr from saving his son but could not find one in the Harry Potter universe that would work for my story, so I used an original creation from a novel I am currently working on (very slowly developing as we speak). We will learn more about the Firethorn flicker, which is actually a wingless drake, but it can be a dragon for the sake of the Harry Potter Universe. Anyway, I never really came up with a name for Harry's hometown (at least I don't think I did). Any suggestions?


	2. Part 2

I've decided to call the town Severus and Harry live in Capesville, thanks to a town name generator (lazy, I know). The name is meant to be fictional and any resemblance to a real person, place or thing is purely coincidental. Enjoy the next part of the adventure.

* * *

Towns became cities, cities became forests, and forests became mountains as Faolan flew through the sky in the balloon basket. The wind carried him fast through the evening into the night, and when he woke up and looked over the basket the next morning, he had no idea where he was. He was sure the magic contained in the balloons aided in the speed of his flight. He was more than ready to be out of the basket. He never wanted to see balloons again.

He wondered what had become of his father, why Freyr fell and did not get back up. Faolan yawned anxiously and mewed for help as he flew above another forest surrounded by mountains.

"Help!" he cried. "Somebody, help!"

Flapping wings caught Faolan's attention and a common buzzard landed on the edge of the basket. The bird of prey studied Faolan.

"Ye were calling for help?" the buzzard asked. "You're a tiger! Did ye ride this basket from Asia?"

"No, from England." Faolan climbed over to the bird, mewing at him. "You have to get me down."

"England? Is this a zoobreak? Sneak out, did ye now?"

"A what?"

"A zoobreak is when an animal breaks out of a zoo."

"No, I'm not from a zoo."

"You're a pet then? Do you belong to the royal family, laddie? I've visited there a couple times – nice place, is it no?"

"No, no! Can you get me down?"

"Hmm," the buzzard looked down, "You're a wee bit high in the sky but I think I could lower you down."

The buzzard flew off the basket and swooped down to the trees.

"Wait! Don't leave me."

Faolan tried to look over the basket, but the sight of trees far below him frightened him to keep his head inside the basket. He growled nervously. Then suddenly, the buzzard shot up above him and fluttered around the balloons. Using his sharp talons, the bird began popping the balloons one by one.

"Wait – what are you doing?"

The loud pop of more balloons was his only response. The basket dropped several feet.

"Ahh! No, not like that! Stop!"

More balloons popped and the basket dropped more. Faolan clung to the side of the basket with his claws. Closing his eyes, the cub listened to more popping.

"Have no fear," the buzzard said, "there is a pond below."

Faolan gasped as more balloons popped.

"Wait! I can't swim!"

It was too late. He was falling to the earth, the remaining balloons no longer able to hold the basket up. Faolan cried as he tumbled down to the earth, grunting as the basket collided with the water as if it were concrete. The basket fell apart from the impact, spitting Faolan out into the water. The small cub spluttered and splashed in the water, finding a broken piece of the basket to cling to.

The buzzard landed on the edge of the pond, tilting his head at the cub in the water. "Paddle, laddie."

"I can't," Faolan said. "It's too deep."

"You're not trying. Let go of the basket."

"No, I can't, I'll drown!" Faolan cried out again as he kicked his back paws, adjusting his grip on the piece of woven basket material.

"You're a wee scunner," the buzzard ruffled his feathers before shuffling along the edge of the pond. "If ye do no try to swim ye'll be stuck in there."

"Can't you help me?"

"How? I can't lift you."

Faolan froze as he felt something brush up against him in the water. Was it a predator that ate little tigers? Freyr took rapid, shallow breaths as he pivoted his head around, trying to spot whatever was in the water while keeping his balance on the piece of basket he had. Suddenly, something pushed on him and he was gliding over to the edge. As he neared the edge, Faolan yelped as he was physically flipped into the air and out of the water, landing on his face in the muddy dirt on the bank.

Faolan spat out mud and looked over his shoulder, glaring at the two otters peeking their heads out of the water. The otters snickered.

"Well, you're out now," the buzzard said. The otters laughed, but the buzzard held up his wings threateningly and stepped toward the edge. "Scram, you water rats!"

The otters jumped in the air and dived into the water with a splash, disappearing. The buzzard skipped over to Faolan. "It must feel nicer having yer feet on the ground."

"Yeah, but I have no idea where I am. Or how to get home."

"England, eh? You're in Scotland now – you'll need to head south."

"But . . . which way is south?"

"That way," the bird swung his head southward, staring off into the forest. "It'll be a long trip for ye – best get going now – skedaddle aff." The buzzard flapped his wings at Faolan, opening his beak as if to bite.

Faolan hunched his shoulders as he backed away, then ran for the trees as fast as he could. So much for the bird helping him get home. Once he was in the safety of the trees, Faolan slowed to a walk, looking back to see if the bird had followed. The fur on his body stood when a shrilling call cut through the forest. Faolan sank to the ground, belly crawling through the trees, looking all around as he slowly advanced deeper and deeper into the unknown territory.

There were many new sounds and rustles from every direction. Faolan gulped, tucking his tail against his side as he forced himself to keep going. He had to get home to his father. Thoughts of never seeing his dad again brought tears to his eyes and he sniffed pitifully. He paused near a rock to dry himself from the pond water, quenching his thirst as he did so. He was so hungry now too. Tears kept falling as he dried himself obsessively.

"My," a voice said above him, making him jump, "I didn't know Scotland had tigers."

Faolan lowered himself to the ground, resting his head on his paws. Something moved along the branches above him, shaking the leaves and wobbling the branches.

"I'm not from Scotland," Faolan said.

"No? Where ar ye from?" The voice sounded female. Faolan watched a branch shake as a slender figure leaped off to another branch.

"Er, England. The town of Capesville."

The creature jumped off a low branch and landed on the rock Faolan had stopped by, startling the small cub who jumped and hissed, hackles raised and ears flat.

"I didn't know England had tigers either," she said, sitting on the rock, her tail curling around her.

It was a Scottish wildcat. She was as big as Faolan, if not a couple pounds bigger, had a tabby coat pattern, and a long, bushy, ringed tail that twitched slightly. She smiled down at Faolan with a purr, her hazel eyes sparkling. Faolan gulped, and lowered himself once more, head on his paws again. He wasn't sure how dangerous this cat might be or what her intentions were.

"You're just a wee bairn," the cat said, smiling at Faolan, her ears flicking. "And a long way from home. It'll take a few days just to get to the border."

"Can you help me?" Faolan asked. "My daddy's probably worried."

The cat jumped off the rock, sniffing Faolan, who stayed stock still as she did so, trembling slightly. She purred as she circled Faolan, her tail raised behind her. She paused to groom a paw, then cocked her head at the small cub, her pink nose twitching.

"You smell like a human."

"I'm an animagus," Faolan explained. "I am a human, but I can turn into a tiger. I'm a wizard."

"Ah, yes, one of those types of human. I'm sure your dad is very worried for you."

"You can help me get home?" Faolan's ears perked and he relaxed considerably for the first time since he woke that morning. He sat up, curling his own tail around her.

"I can get ye there. I've always wanted to travel. My name's Eithne, by the way."

"I'm Faolan." Foalan smiled at the cat.

"We have a long trip ahead of us, Faolan. We best get going."

Eithne began trotting along the forest floor, Faolan running to keep up with her. His stomach growled noisily. "Do you think we could get breakfast first?"

Eithne smiled. "I suppose."

* * *

Remus and Sirius arrived at Severus's house via floo. They stepped inside, Sirius yelling, "Where's my favorite nephew?"

"Why do you insist on calling him your favorite?" Remus asked, walking towards the kitchen. "He's your only nephew."

"And that's a good reason to be my favorite," Sirius argued, then frowned. "Harry? Severus? Where are they?"

Remus opened the potions lab door and called, "Severus?" He was met with silence. "Hmm, they might be outside. I swore Severus said we were babysitting today so he could work on several projects. I wonder if he changed his mind."

"Oh no," Sirius shook his head, walking toward the back door. "These amusement park tickets are nonrefundable; we are taking Harry today. Severus!" Sirius walked outside.

Remus snorted and followed his friend outside, scanning the yard. He walked around the house, wondering where on earth father and son were. He froze at the sight of a massive tiger lying motionless in the grass, blinking his eyes.

"Oh no, Severus!" Remus ran over to the unconscious tiger, cradling the head and patting the cat's cheek. "Severus! Freyr, come on, wake up. Sirius!"

Sirius ran over to where Remus was kneeling with the great cat. He pulled out his wand and waved it over the tiger, but he found no traces of a hex or curse. "We should call for a healer. And maybe a magizoologist. I'm not sure what's wrong with him. He's acting like he's drugged on something."

Remus patted Freyr's cheek again, and this time, the tiger's eyes blinked open, but they were clouded. The tiger moaned and closed his eyes. Remus's face paled and he looked up at Sirius with wide eyes. "Harry," he croaked.

Sirius turned sharply on his heels, walking around the yard calling out "Harry" and "Faolan." He walked toward the wooded areas, trying to get a locator charm to work. When it continued to fail, Sirius knew Harry had to be far out of the charm's capable locating distance. And the only one who knew what happened was incapacitated.

* * *

Eithne – pronounce it as you like, I've heard many different ways of saying this name. I personally like en-ya. But to each their own. Thanks for reading. I'll get the next section up soon.


End file.
